Like any other worldwide funding organisation, Horizon Europe has a set of qualifying criteria for getting money for your study and/or innovation. The organisation or programme receives hundreds of applications on a regular basis. Horizon Europe focuses on certain critical concerns and offers to finance research and innovation related to those topics alone while also serving as an effective support structure for new and innovative ideas and projects.

Personnel Costs are Covered for Different Categories

Eligibility conditions cover the costs for hiring all employees and any natural persons working under a direct contract. Any employees seconded by a third party against payment, volunteers, and any other overheads are also eligible. Beneficiaries who are natural persons but not receiving a salary and any Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners who are not receiving a salary can also present their costs in the eligibility category.

Employees Costs

Personnel costs for employees include the salaries and other benefits of workers and other staff members of a research team. You can also include social security contributions, applicable taxes, and any other costs associated with providing remuneration to the employees for the services they render. Salary is calculated as the daily hourly rate for each person multiplied by the number of days they work on the given action. The resulting figure is rounded off to the nearest half day. Parental leave is not deducted from the total salary paid out.

Any bonuses and supplementary payments made to employees under national law and benefits schemes, collective labour agreements, and internal regulations of the beneficiary’s organisation can also be considered eligible as employee salary. Beneficiaries can also add overheads like lunch money or the costs of providing a car for company use.

Temporary or Part-Time Employees

Any employees hired on a part-time contract and not working for the full calendar year will also receive salary and benefits similar to a full-time worker. However, any parental, maternal, long-term sick leave, breastfeeding, or long-term childcare leave cannot be paid under the grant regulations. Beneficiaries can charge supplementary payments for personnel hired to work on specific projects.

Natural Persons Under Direct Contract or Seconded Contract

Grant regulations require you to clearly make the distinction between self-employed natural persons working under a contract which is not an employment contract and seconded employees. The latter are determined as employees that are transferred from third parties on a temporary assignment to work at the disposal of the beneficiary. These personnel work on the beneficiary’s premises under their control and directions.

You can claim the salaries and remuneration paid to these personnel as eligible costs as long as you declare them as actual costs. Further, these personnel must work under a contract similar to any other employees within the organisation. Also, they must work under conditions and time schedules similar to the other members of the beneficiary’s workforce. Telecommunting is permitted under the eligibility criteria as long as the employee works for at least three days out of every five working days at the physical premises of the beneficiary. Salaries paid to remote employees working out of foreign countries and locations are not eligible costs if the remaining workforce is working at the physical premises of the beneficiary.

Employees Hired Through Third-Party Agencies

Payments made to the staff hired through a temporary work agency cannot be included in personnel costs. They can, however, be calculated and entered as “subcontracting” and “purchase of other goods and services.”

Draft your application and your budget for your research grant while keeping these factors in mind. Information like this comes in handy at the beginning of your application when you are going through the eligibility criteria for filling the application.

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